Knowing the Den.

''Now... Let's be friends.'' Zhou Heng said with a gentle smile.

''Ugh...'' The first kid, also the tallest one, was kneeling on the floor while clutching his chest trying to regain his breath.

''Agh...'' Surprisingly the second was the shortest and youngest among the four, he was sitting on the floor looking at his leg in fear and confusion, the leg didn't want to answer him anymore.

''...'' The other two kids had blank faces while looking at their friends, who in just a few seconds of confrontation had been incapacitated and now were lying on the floor.

Zhou Heng sighed, they were simply too aggressive, just a minute ago they entered the room and saw him when he was counting the number of belongings and considered him a thief.

Before he could even deny it, the tallest that was also the leader of the small group, ran toward him with the intention of 'capturing' him, it was at this moment that Anthony's words came to his mind 'Gain your bed' so he decided to calm them down a little.

When the tall kid was near him he just simply punched him in the diaphragm and let the floor cold his head.

But who would have thought that the shortest of the group seeing this became so enraged that ran while screaming at Zhou Heng, without remedy and seeing that even with rage the little kid protected his chest as to not meet the same destiny that the leader, Zhou Heng didn't have other option than take advantage of other weak points.

So when the kid was near him, he took a better position in the narrow space, and throw a low kick toward the boy's back knee, the boy's rage wasn't enough to make the leg answer him so he went directly to the floor.

Zhou Heng blamed everything on the fever of the youth and said with a cold voice toward the two remaining that wisely decided to surrender, ''Help your friends and come sit down with me.'' after he said that, he just sat in one of the beds.

The two kids at the door glanced at each other and went to support their friends, but while doing so, they keep stealing a few looks at the blue-haired boy.

They are children from the Rat District, they have more mental endurance than other kids, especially when living in a place like the Den, where the philosophy is 'Spit the blood and keep standing'.

Seeing fights in the pit and meeting with the rough people that manage it, has made them have an arrogant and stubborn behavior, especially when the other party is a peer, but the blue-haired boy in front of them is giving a dangerous vibe that restrains them.

Even if that vibe is not as dangerous or scary as the fighters of the pit, is enough for kids of their age to feel suppressed, coupled with the fact that their leader, the one that had lived here the longest, is now gasping from one hit, made them well behaved.

After the five of them sat down, Zhou Heng didn't want to waste more time so he asked directly, ''Before you entered the room, didn't you see Anthony coming out?''

''... It is Mr. Anthony, and no, we didn't see him... was he here?'' The leader that looked at Zhou Heng with resentful eyes, frowned and answered with a grumble.

''He doesn't stop me from calling him Anthony, so if you don't like it... Go a complaint with him, otherwise, shut up.'' Zhou Heng smiled gently and answered, he doesn't want them as enemies, but he also doesn't want to be friendly with them.

''If you aren't convinced after being beaten with one punch, we can do it again, and this time I won't stop hitting even if you fall to the ground'' Maintaining his smile he said, ''How is it? that can satisfy you?''

''...'' The leader had cold sweat on his back, the previous experience was bad enough to make him wary about this new kid, he tried to gain courage by looking at his friends, but the youngest was still massaging his numb leg, and the others evaded his glance.

Ignoring the scared group in front of him, Zhou Heng cursed inwardly at Anthony, he was sure that this was his plan, either as a prank or to test him. But, it also saves him trouble, after all, it was better to solve it in private, in Anthony's words 'No one wants to see brats trashing each other'.

Shaking his head, he decided to take advantage of the situation, so with the same friendly smile, he said, ''Now that everything is okay between us, let's be friends. Starting with introductions, my name is Heng and I will be staying here.'' Patting the bed he was sitting on.

''As for the four of you... You can start introducing yourselves and telling me, who is the one that you admire the most in this place.'' Without delay, he started gathering information.

''...'' The four kids started their first day cohabiting with the Villain of the world.

****

An hour later after having friendly chats, Zhou Heng came back to the arena, commonly referred as 'the pit'.

He wasn't satisfied with the quantity of intel that he got from the four kids, but he also couldn't complain, after all, with their ages, their range of action was limited, and the Den was mainly focused on the fighting business.

What Zhou Heng wanted was information about different skills experts; theft, survival, stealth, tracking, disguise... Zhou Heng even wanted to get in contact with some Con artists.

The objective of Zhou Heng wasn't to become a full-fledged thief, but more like he wanted to take advantage to learn useful skills, not only for the system mission but also for his own purposes.

If it wasn't because the situation wasn't appropriate, he would go and learn everything he could, taking advantage of the record function with the thought that after this mission only a night would pass in his real life, time was truly invaluable.

Looking around a bit and marveling once again at the size of the location, he decided to go out, and look for the woman with red hair, as she was recommended by Anthony.

Approaching the entrance, he noticed that it was wide open, it should be closed by the time he arrived but the rest of the day is open. He also noticed that it isn't the only entrance, there were some stairs at the other extreme of the Den.

Zhou Heng can also guess that there should be access to the building that is above it.

Exiting the Den, he saw that in the tent there were people he didn't recognize, they are killing time playing cards and talking to each other, if Zhou Heng isn't mistaken they should be the guards of the entrance.

Seeing them ignoring him after one look, Zhou Heng came out of the tent and breathed fresh air, the Den is impressive, but it was too hot.

Comforting himself that everything is training, he walked toward the tent where he saw the woman earlier.

He can't see anyone near, even the kids he followed here already left the circus, thinking about them, Zhou Heng was grateful, he spent months looking for clues about the Den.

Bribing with his extremely limited wealth, flattering thugs, and even having friendly exchanges of martial arts with other kids to know about the connection of that orphanage with the Den.

Worrying a little that in a few years he went from being a villain that ignores bullied children to being the one that bullies them, he entered the tent.

The insides surprised him a little, it looked like a fortune teller's tent, he couldn't notice from the outside for the lack of decorations or signals.

A small table, two chairs, cards, a bookshelf, and some candles, but there was no one inside, the tent was medium-sized.

Zhou Heng's attention was on the books, it was not the first time he saw one in this world, but the ones he had read were the ones that Alisa's Aunt used to teach her.

Learning to read and speak was easy for Zhou Heng, the Records function of the system worked passively when he was growing up, this was the way of the system to help him adapt to the new world quickly.

Approaching the bookshelf, Zhou Heng saw that the books didn't have anything to do with fortune-telling, mysticism, or other superstitious activities.

The books were more scientific; geography, biology, math, astronomy... There were even some novels and tales in other sections of the bookshelf.

Zhou Heng's eyes shone, judging by the organized distribution and the fact that the books were very clean, it seems that the owner of the tent didn't have them here as decoration.

Enduring the desire of grabbing one, he took a step back and turned around, only to be greeted by the woman he came looking for, sitting in the main chair with a gentle smile.

''...'' The only thought in his mind was that the people around here love to sneak around.

The woman kept smiling at him without saying anything, her eyes were looking at him with curiosity.

Having her near, Zhou Heng can now have a better look, the red wavy hair was clean and well kept, some wrinkles on the sides of the eyes signaling her age, the makeup he saw earlier is now removed, revealing a good looking face, she isn't a goddess but is certainly a woman with a pleasant face.

After observing her for a while, Zhou Heng decided to break the silence, ''Sorry for entering without permission.''

The woman's eyebrows rose up, ''It's fine, don't worry about it. Do you like to read? Other children go directly to the cards rather than the books.''

Zhou Heng nodded, the woman's voice was pleasant, carrying a gentle feeling. She had motherly energy flowing all around her.

''Well, I would gladly lend them to you, but... The sun is very high already. Do you want to eat something?'' She put her finger on her lips and asked.

''I...'' Growl... Even with the help of the records that made him remember everything he wants, he also can be distracted and forget simple things like eating, ''...Would gladly take that offer.'' A bit embarrassed he said.

''Hehe... Let's go, I will take you to eat something good.'' She giggled and waved at him.

Zhou Heng felt that he is very attracted to women that offer him food.